Orange Crush wins adult indoor soccer league championships

The Huntsville Soccer Club indoor season ended in fine fashion on Monday, April 30 with the Orange Crush defeating the Big Bad Blues in penalty kicks to claim the title.

With their spiritual leader and captain Chris Occhiuzzi missing the championship match with a high ankle sprain—as well as midfield maestro Ted Maduri (lower body)—the Orange fought hard and took a 6-3 lead late in the match.

With Blue captain Chuck Lefebvre emitting a never-say-die attitude and his team following, the Blues fought back. A few fortunate bounces and eventually the match was tied at 6-6. Extra time solved nothing, and it went to penalty kicks, which is the most wonderfully gut-wrenching way to decide championships.

Veteran leader Steve Fairhall was the only player to convert his spot kick to complete the Orange’s inevitable championship.

“I’m so proud of my whole team,” says Occhiuzzi. “We battled through injuries and adversity all season long. This was the goal from the beginning. Our guys beat an incredible team in the final. Credit to the Big Bad Blues for playing with so much passion and intensity.”

The Big Bad Blues (from left) Kate Kerr, Carlos Burmeister, Darren Parsons, Chuck Lefebvre and Greg Cholkan. Not pictured: Alex Gardiner, and Chris Johnston

In the third-place match, the Mean Green Machine annihilated Crushed Grapes 8-2 in a flattering score line for the people wearing purple jerseys.

The Greens came to play and wanted the win much more than their opponents. Purple looked uninterested as they were still reeling from finishing with the best regular season record and not playing Orange in the final.

Mean Green Machine (from left) David Caplan, Brandon Occhiuzzi, Nick Laning, Fraser McTurk and Cam Anderson. Not pictured: Ginny MacLeod and Caleb Grim

Crushed Grapes (from left) Graham Thompson, Dawid Juszczak, Mel Mercier, Paul Borbeau, Sean Spadafora, Kyle Litchfield and Carolyn Nates.

“We really wanted to finish the season off with a win,” says Green Captain David Caplan, who also won the Most Gentlemanly Player of the Year Award. “We played hard all year and I’m so proud of my guys.”

The Huntsville Soccer Club adult program now looks towards the summer season, which begins on May 24^th.

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